Govt says Islamic State is seeking al-Qaeda alliance

BAGHDAD: The Islamic State is talking to al-Qaeda about a possible alliance as Iraqi troops close in on IS fighters in Mosul, Iraqi Vice-President Ayad Allawi said in an interview on Monday.

Mr Allawi said he got the information on Monday from Iraqi and regional contacts knowledgeable about Iraq.

“The discussion has started now,” Mr Allawi said. “There are discussions and dialogue between messengers representing Baghdadi and representing Zawahiri,” referring to Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and Ayman al Zawahiri, the head of al-Qaeda.

The IS split from al-Qaeda in 2014 and the two groups have since waged an acrimonious battle for recruits, funding and the mantle of global jihad. Mr Zawahiri has publicly criticised the IS for its brutal methods, which have included beheadings, drownings and immolation.

It is unclear how exactly the two groups may work together, Mr Allawi said.

The IS blazed across large swathes of northern Iraq in 2014, leaving the Iraqi central government reeling.

Mr Baghdadi declared a caliphate over the territory the group controlled from the al-Nuri mosque in Mosul the same year, which also became a point of contention with al-Qaeda.

Last October, Iraqi security forces and Shia volunteer fighters, commonly referred to as the Popular Mobilisation Units, teamed up with an international coalition, including the US, to drive the IS from Mosul and the areas surrounding the city.

The militant group has lost ground in Mosul but still controls the towns of Qaim, Hawija and Tal Afar in Iraq as well as Raqqa, their de facto capital in Syria.

Even if the IS loses its territory in Iraq, Mr Allawi said, it will not simply go away.

“I can’t see Isis [the IS] disappearing into thin air,” Mr Allawi said. “They will remain covertly in sleeping cells, spreading their venom all over the world.”